Corset-shield.



no. 664,659. Patented nec. 25, |900. am. MATTHEW.

consET SHIELD.

Application filed Oct. 21, 1899.)

(No Model.)

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Yu: mams rmws co.. PuoroL'rrHo., WASHINGTON. D. c.'

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

PATRICK MILIIAR MATTHEW, OF EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND.

CORSET-SHIELD.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 664,659, dated December 25, 1900. I

Application led October 2l, 1899. Serial No. 734,287. (No model.)

To @ZZ whom, t inc/,y concern:

Beit known that I, PATRICK MILLAR MAT- THEW, a subject of the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, residing at Victoria India Rubber Mills, Leith Valk, Edinburgh, in the county of Mid-Lothian,Scotland, have invented new and useful Improvements in Corset-Shields, of which the following is a specification.

My invention, as hereinafter described, relates to the production of the flexible staypieces or supports (commonly known as corsetshields) which are applied to the inner surfaces of corsets at each side at the points where, curving to lit the Waist of the wearer, the steels or bones of the corsets are liable to fracture from the movements ofthe body.

The object of my invention is to provide shields which shall be so flexible and elastic as to adapt themselves to the curves of the body with perfect ease and comfort to the wearer and which shall at the same time be sufficiently rigid to afford the support necessary to prevent the fracture of the steels or bones of the corset by the movements of the body. They may either be fitted to corsets in the course of manufacture of the latter or they may afterward be attached in a suitable manner to the finished corsets. They may also be applied to corsets in which the steels or boues have already become fractured at the points above indicated, and when so applied they will effectually prevent injury to the person or clothing of the wearer from the broken ends of the steels or bones. Y

The shields which are the subject of this invention consist, primarily, of thin sheets of india-rubber, compounded and vulcanized in such a manner as to combine the necessary rigidity, flexibility, and elasticity above referred to. The form and size of the shields may be varied according to the size of the corsets to which they are to be applied or other circumstances. For general purposes I have found an elliptical form most suitable, as illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l is a plan view of my improved corset-shield, consisting of 'a combined rubber and fiber sheet. Fig. 2 is a plan view 0f the same provided with fabric covering. Fig. 3 is a central longitudinal section thereof.

In carrying out my invention I first prepare the rubber by adding thereto a proportion of fibrous material a, such as cotton or jute, which I reduce to a tine state of division and closely incorporate with the rubber by means of such grinding and mixing machinery as is commonly employed in rubber factories for analogous purposes. I have found that twenty-four parts, by weight, of rubber to twelve parts, by weight, of fiber are suitable proportions. To this combined rubber and ber com pound I then add the necessary vulcanizin g ingredients (preferably litharge and sulfur) in such proportions as will render the rubber sufficiently rigid and flexiblel after having been subsequently submitted to the process of vulcanization. .I have found that eight parts, by weight, of litharge and one part, by Weight, of sulfur to twenty-four parts, by weight, of rubber are suitable proportions for producing the required result. The rubber and fiber compound thus prepared is then formed into sheets of the required thickness by means of the ordinary process of calendering rubber sheets. The thickness of the sheets may be varied according to the particular amount of rigidity which is desired; but for general purposes I find that about one-sixteenth of an inch is ample. The sheets are then vulcanized by any suitable method;

but I prefer to employ the ordinary hot press, in which the rubber is vulcanized under pressure between two metal plates heated by steam to the required temperature.

The shields AA may either be cut from the sheet after vulcanization or prior to it. In the latter case they must be vulcanized after being cut, and preferably so by the hot press, as above described.

The combined rubber and fiber sheet prepared by the method above described is capable of being stretched in one direction onlythat is to say, on its width or at right' angles to the direction in which it leaves the calender-and in cutting the shields from the sheet it is absolutely necessary thatfits horizontal axis should lie in the direction in which the rubber can be stretched. This permits the shield when being drawn into contact with the body of the wearer to expand along the upper or lower portions of its periphery, as indicated by the double-headed arrow B, and

IOO

thus to adapt itself with absolute accuracy to the double curvature of the body at the waist of the wearer.

For the sake of appearance, as well as for the purpose of giving additional strength to the shields, I prefer to cover them on both sides by a cotton or other fabric C of suitable texture. This fabric I prepare by coating it on one side with an adhesive solution of india-rubber capable of being vulcanized. I then attach the fabric by means of pressure to both sides of the rubber sheet prior to the vulcanization of the latter, or, having cutY the prepared fabric into portions of the necessary size and shape, I attach them by similar means to the shields which have been cut from the unvulcanized rubber sheet, as above stated. In the latter case, being that shown in the drawings, the portions of the fabric may be cut somewhat larger than the rubber shield, so that theyT will overlap the edge of the latter, and their two adhesive surfaces coming in contact will form a flange c around the shield. In either case the material is then vulcanized, as before described.

In order that the expansion of the shields at the proper parts may not be interfered with hy the overlying fabric, it is necessary that the latter be made or cut in such a manner that it will possess the necessary amount of elasticity in the required direction-that is to say, a fabric which is not elastic in make should be cut on the bias, as indicated by the lines on Fig. 2 of the drawings.

For the purpose of enabling the shields to be stitched to the corset small holes may be punched vthrough the rubber at suitable intervals and fitted with eyelets D, andv additional holes may similarly be formed, if desii-ed, for purposes of ventilation.

My invention depends in part upon the discovery that this principle can be utilized with especially advantageous effect in the construction of corset-shields by cutting from such composite fabric sheets of the proper elliptical shape to form corset-shields with the fibers or threads in the composite sheet runningr crosswise in the elliptical sheet, so that when said shields are made up and applied to corsets .in the usual position with the major axis of the ellipse in horizontal position the tensile strength of the sheet transversely of its length will alford the necessary strength to the shield to prevent breaking by vertical tension, in which direction the shields are subject to the most severe tensile strain, while the flexibility of the threads or fibers permitsthe shield to bend forward in a vertical plane, and at the same time the parallel vertical disposition of the threads in the composite sheet aords great elasticity thereto in a horizontal direction or lengthwise of the sheet or shield, and this elasticity permits the shield to curve freely backward in a horizon# ,Y tal plane. By the iiexibility of the threadsI Y provide for the forward vertical curvature, L and by their vertical disposition Iprovide theY requisite tensile strength to prevent breaking g and leave the rubber free to stretch in a horil: Q zontal direction. The shield is thus enabledY 17on tocurvein both averticalandhorizontaldirec i. tion forward and backward,respectively,as ref c quired to conform to the curvature of the liu- V man waist without undue strain or violence',V to the material.' I furthermore provide the7'5' sheet or shield with a covering of'woven fab-'.1 Y ric cut on the bias, so as to be elastic, in both directions, and thus not interfere with theVVYVVV freedom of the curvature in two directions'at once, as above described. J 8o I lay no claim, broadly, to the fabric covr-V ering, as such covering is only for the purpose of appearance' and to vkeep the fibrous rubberY from coming into direct contact with 'thegY wearer. The said cover in no way assists the 85213 required peculiar properties of the brousrubber compound, these said peculiarpropl.Y erties being attained, as hereinbefore def-V scribed, by the peculiar process of manufac ture and by the particular method of'cuttingj9c5 from the sheet. Y i i Having thus described my invention, the following is what I claim as new thereinand desire to secure by Letters Patent: Y l. A corset-shield comprising a thin coin-VV 95V bined rubber and ber sheet in which the Q bers are thoroughly mixed with the rubber; Y extend vertically crosswise of the sheet ande.. 1 Y overlap so as to break joint whereby the'ten-V sile strength of the fibers prevents breaking; VKro'oj-f by vertical strain while their flexibility perV mits the bending of the sheet in a vertical plane; and whereby the curvature of the sheet in aV horizontal pla-ne is permitted by the elasticity of the sheet in that direction. V1cp5 i 2. A corset-shield comprising a thin com'fr bined rubber and fiber sheet of Vcustomary elliptical form, having the fibers disposed,l

. crosswise of the sheet so as to be in vertical a '5 position when in use and overlapping soas'tov no break joint and a fabric coveringcut onthe'i,V bias, and secured to the sheet, asexplained; 3. A corsetshield comprising a thin :corn-V bined rubber and fiber sheet of ellipticalj shape having the fibers disposed crosswise ofrr15 the sheet so as to assume a vertical position Y when in use and overlapping so as to bre joint, and fabric coverings cut `on the bias', and each having an adhesive coating wheref by they are applied under pressure to thethin rizo sheet so as to permit the thin sheet to yieldirrr in the manner explained. 'Y

PATRICK MILLAR MATTHEW.'Y Witnesses:

FRANCIS ROBERT MILNE,

COLIN Ross OROMBLE. 

